Cat Stevens Barred from Israel

Pop singer Cat Stevens, who converted to Islam some years ago and changed his name Yusuf Islam, was denied entry to Israel on Monday for “security reasons” as an “undesirable alien.”

Interior Ministry sources said Islam was black-listed because of virulently anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements he made during a visit here two years ago. He has also spoken out in favor of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The folk rock star of the 1970s, born Steven Georgiou, was turned away at Ben-Gurion Airport, where he arrived with his 8-year-old son, Mohammed. He did not protest and left aboard the same British Airways plane on which he arrived.